


Pictures on Desk

by villainousunsub



Series: Domestic and AU one-shots [5]
Category: Criminal Minds
Genre: something random
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-13
Updated: 2015-10-13
Packaged: 2018-04-26 03:38:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 947
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4988779
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/villainousunsub/pseuds/villainousunsub
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>a look at what JJ and Emily had on their desk then and now</p>
            </blockquote>





	Pictures on Desk

**Author's Note:**

> okay sorry for this one, i just threw it together and it isnt as good as some of my other work, but give it a chance?

During Emily’s third year the team started comparing desk item’s after one of their cases. Emily’s was a little cramped with things, mostly random papers and a few books here and there, but she did have a couple of pictures sitting by her computer. They weren’t much really, considering she didn’t get along per say with her mother, was an only child, and not married or had kids. The pictures she did have though, they were special to her.

She had one of her and JJ standing in front of some monument they found during a case. It was her favorite out of every picture she had. Maybe it was because it was just them, or the smile that graced JJ’s face in that moment, or maybe it was the simplicity of it all. There was no Will, no Henry, it was easier to get her to smile then. She didn’t need to worry about anything, neither of them did.

Next to the picture of the blonde and herself, was one of the whole team. They were all sitting on top of their desk, while Garcia stood beside Morgan, JJ was positioned between Emily and Reid, Rossi and Hotch stood behind all of them, protecting them in a way. The chaos that happened afterwards was- it was them. Morgan ended up pushing Reid, who fell into Emily, who took JJ down with her. As the dominos fell, hands flailed about and pulled more people down with them. They were a pile of elite agents, a pile of elite agents who couldn’t stop laughing.

On the other side she had a small picture of Henry. It was taken a few weeks after he was born and was the best photo taken of him. Other than JJ, he was her other special person, even if she wasn’t related (or his godmother) to the boy, he was like her own.

The last picture to be placed on her desk was one of all the girls. The picture itself was a

silly one, but the meaning behind it was not. Garcia had made them promise to always be a call away, that nothing would stop them from picking up the phone for help or even just to say hi. She made them promise that they would always be a family.

* * *

 

JJ, on the other hand, had to rotate through her pictures. There was never a time where one picture got to stay on her desk longer than a month or two. She also kept a few of her favorites tucked inside her middle desk drawer.

At the time of comparison though, she only had a couple random ones displayed.  She tried to keep them fairly even when it came to whom was in the picture. Never the same person twice, but they caught her her off guard.

At the center of everything was a large picture of Henry smiling up at the camera. She would always stare at it after a tough case, it reminded her why she was doing the job. Next to that was a creased picture of her and her sister from when they were young kids. A remembrance of how quickly things could change. She also had a photograph that was taken at her parent’s wedding, they looked happy and JJ desperately wanted that.  

On the other side, she had her other family. Unlike Emily, she did not have a full group picture, instead she had a few with a couple of people in each. JJ had one of the boys messing around at the gym. Beside that photo was one of Garcia and Spencer on either side of Henry, they were staring at him like he meant the world to them (and did he ever.) The last one was one that had stayed the longest. It was a black and white picture of Emily holding a little Henry, and you could just barely make out JJ sitting beside her. That was her true family, even if everyone thought that it was her, Will, and now Henry; it never was, it was always her.

* * *

 

Years had passed since that day, desk changed, people changed, things were changing all the time. Neither really paid much attention to what got placed on their home away from home. But sometimes, someone would make a comment on a picture or ask about the people in them, it would remind both of what all had changed.

JJ no longer had pictures of anyone but her kids. Will was always a reminder of everything and everyone she lost, it was something she hated more than anything. Not as much as seeing a picture of the brunette and losing it. Tears would start and her breath would catch, letting her know that that feeling about her would never change, no matter how hard she tried. The team stopped taking pictures together after the day she left, she ruined everything. JJ still loved her with everything she had, she was her family.

Emily stopped putting pictures up at all. The few pictures she did have were stored away in her desk and one hung up in her office, not really by choice. They all thought she was heartless, and the easiest way not to show them any different was to not have anything that would trigger an emotional reaction. That included the blonde and the small child that followed, they would forever trigger something in her.

They both had changed, neither knowing how much it hurt the other. According to them, it was for the better. Yet, they both longed to have that family that was always on their mind, and that included each other.


End file.
